Saturday, February 17, 2018

The term ‘genre’
can be confusing, for it is used to mean two different things in
writing and publishing. In one sense, the broad sense, all writing
fits into one or more (usually more) genres. These divisions are a
part of the critical understanding of a written work, ways to better
analyze it.

Genre tells one
what the work is about, explores its themes. ‘Genre
fiction,’ on the other hand, is more about publishing categories than
critical statemens. Romance is one of the latter, or the Western.
There are pretty strict expectations about what these would include
as works of fiction. Were I to write a novel set in the Old West, it
would certainly fit the genre of Historical Fiction but would be most
unlikely to be a genre fiction Western.

To some degree, I
see this as similar to what exists in music and the music industry.
We have true genres, such as the blues or jazz, and we have
‘formats,’ like Americana or Easy Listening. Literary Fiction or
Young Adult are essentially formats, not genres. The name tells who
they are written for, not what they are about.

Many of the
classics that would be lumped with Literary Fiction these days were
written as popular entertainments. They can also be readily assigned
to true genres. ‘War and Peace’ is certainly Historical Fiction,
among many other things. The authors of not so long ago were
concerned simply with writing good stories, books people would read,
not with fitting some publishing niche.

The bulk of my
own work (not all, by any means) could broadly be termed Fantasy. Is
it of literary worth? Might I call it ‘Literary Fantasy?’ Yes,
there is such term, such a publishing niche, and some would see it as
a ‘genre.’ Works that fit such a category would certainly include
Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ or any of the work of James
Branch Cabell or Lord Dunsany. I would not be willing to
self-describe my writing as such but recognize that some would. I
simply try to write good stories, with at least a few actual ideas
tucked into them, and well-polished language.

Entertaining my
audience is important, but is not my only goal. That, I think, is
what sets genre fiction apart — it is primarily escapist, intended
first and foremost to entertain, not to communicate anything. I
myself would not write if I had nothing to say.

So you will see
many of my novels marketed as ‘fantasy’ or ‘fantasy adventure,’
and some listed as ‘crime’ or some related term. That’s okay.
Place them in whatever genre you wish — but do read them first!